September Date Night In: Love at Ease

Who else has a hard time taking it easy? Resting when you need to? Nate and I both struggle with this. We're both full-time teachers, Gabe keeps us on our toes, and we both have other jobs that we love (I'm an virtual health and wellness coach, and Nate directs two local community choirs). This leaves little time for relaxing, especially since we like to make the most of our weekends, and keep our house (somewhat) clean and orderly. There are many days that we hit the ground running and go, go, go until our heads hit pillow at night.

I know we aren't the only ones.

This is one of the many reasons why we LOVE our Date Night In Boxes each month. It gives us the chance to plug into each other, to take a time out, and enjoy ourselves. This month's theme was all about taking it easy. Nate and I both appreciated it so much. We purposely scheduled this date night at the end of a particularly busy week.

We started the night by making a yummy pancake recipe. All of the recipes we've tried so far have been a hit in our household and have gone into our family cookbook for safe keeping. Plus, who doesn't love breakfast for dinner every once in a while?! During dinner we talked about what prevents us from feeling like we can take a break, and how we can better support each other when we do need a rest.

After dinner we plugged into the game they provided for us in our kit! It was a game of chance, and it was a lot of fun! I'm such a nervous nelly when it comes to betting on things, but I killed it.. (I'm noticing a theme with these games...) As we played this game, and completed our crossword puzzle (also provided in the box) we used our new brew buddy to brew the herbal bedtime tea, and ate our salted caramel and chocolate biscotti. They were both DELISH. I'm a sucker for a good cup of tea at night to help me unwind.

To end our date night, we stretched and relaxed even more with some couples yoga. As most of you know our family loves health and wellness and we often work out together. This gave us a new challenge of attempting yoga poses that relied on each other. It made us laugh and stretched out our sore muscles at the same time.

We continue to enjoy our date night in boxes each month. If you ever find yourself needing a little extra time for you and your significant other--check them out! 

Pumpkin Muffins

Fall is here!! Well... almost. For me, as soon as September hits, I am ready for all things fall: cooler weather, pumpkin spice, apple cinnamon, soups, crunchy leaves, football, ALL THE THINGS.

Baking is my love and hobby all year round. I especially get the itch during fall and winter. Making my house smell like cinnamon, apple, and pumpkin takes me back to my childhood when my grandmas and mom would make all of the yummy desserts for the holidays. 

These pumpkin muffins were the first fall recipe of the season for me, and they were a hit in our family! They are made with oat flour and flax, and they include blueberries for a kick of vitamin c. 

Pumpkin Muffins (serves 12) 

Ingredients

• 1/4 c unsweetened vanilla almond milk 
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 c pure pumpkin puree
• 1/2 tbsp canola oil 
• 1/4 c pure maple syrup 
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp pure almond extract
• 2 c rolled oats (ground finely in a food processor or blender to make oat flour) 
• 1 1/2 tbsp ground flax seed
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 c frozen blueberries (optional) 

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375°F
• Generously spray a muffin tin with cooking spray of choice
• Ground rolled oats in a blender or food processor until fine 
• In a medium bowl mix together the almond milk, apple cider vinegar, pumpkin puree, canola oil, syrup and extracts until the oil is well combined with the other ingredients
• In a large mixing bowl, mix together the oat flour, ground flax, baking soda, baking powder, salt, salt and cinnamon 
• Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mix only until combined
• Gently fold in the frozen blueberries
• Scoop mixture into greased muffin tin until 3/4 of the way full 
• Bake at 375 for 20 minutes. After the first 20 minutes lower the temperature to 350 and continue to bake for 15-20 more minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 
• Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes

If you would like, you can forego adding the blueberries to keep this strictly a pumpkin recipe. We love them both ways!